Liquid Crystals

These photographs were taken at the Universities of Oxford and Leeds, both during my time as a PhD student, and more recently. They are part of a project to document the beauty of liquid crystals and their science in a forthcoming book published with the Institute of Physics that I am currently writing.

Prints are available for purchase from my Etsy shop, or please get in touch through my contact page if you can’t see the one you like on there.

If you would like to use these images for educational purposes please feel free to do so. For any other purpose, please feel free to contact me.

Music Painting

Music painting imagines what music would look like if it were paintings and art. By mapping sound frequencies to light frequencies, sound is turned to color, as in some of my other projects. I have always loved painting, so now I have combined paint and sound!

Painting with Aphex Twin

Virtual Reality Music Visualisation

Click the promo video to the left. iOS, Mac and Windows versions can be downloaded below:

Matrix Music Visualizer VR iOS

As well as real-time sound visualisation for music and art, this project is also being explored within the context of virtual reality (see other projects here and here, and download apps here). Any visualisation process should be driven by an understanding of how humans perceive sound and light, and so here I combine data on human sensitivities to sound and light frequencies to generate an intuitive and natural synesthesia interaction between the user and herself and other users through technology mediated environments.

With the announcement of Rez Infinitely to be released on Playstation VR, I thought I would take the opportunity to revisit my favourite track from the game. The visualisation showcases some of the latest features, including new hexagonal and rhombic 3D lattice structures, new colour mappings and a variety of particle textures including triangles, squared and hexagons. More information can be found at http://bensoundcolour.blogspot.jp/

Experimental sound and music visualisation using a particle system in Unity 3D (Music: Renick Bell - 808s)

Sound visualisation based on a natural algorithm for generating colour from sound spectra, taking into consideration an understanding of our visual and audial sensory systems. The new aspects of this visualisation are the use of a particle system to render the sound colour in a 3D way. The video demonstrates 3D lattice arrays arranged in simple cubic, body centred cubic, face centred cubic, and diamond lattice arrays, and also demonstrates a number of translations, rotations, sound-to-position coupling effects, changes in origin of sound colour projection and other effects.

Sound Pictures

These images are made using a natural algorithm for turning pitch into colour, and are the visualisations of songs from a range of genres. The first image is 'simple things' by Massive Attack, for example, the second from Ott's amazing album Mir.

I designed the algorithm with human perception in mind. The sound is analysed using a Fourier transform, or FFT, which gives you the frequency spectrum of the sound over time. This spectrum is then mapped onto a visible spectrum, of light, and this spectrum is then multiplied by the sensitivities of the three light-cones in your eye. These sensitivity profiles were measured from volunteers in the 1930s, and from these sensitivities it is possible to determine what colour we would perceive, if the sound were actually light!

This technology is used to create real-time visualisations which I have used in a variety of contexts, including right now in research into interaction modalities in virtual reality environments. You can have a go now at looking at the colour of your own voice and music by downloading my free app on Android and iOS. Search "benjamin outram" in the app store, or follow the links below:

Ink

If you take some ink and a page, a brush and your mind, and an hour or two, that's all you need for a simple place to be calm and explore the creative space between your thoughts.

Acryic

Playing with acrylic is fun isn't it? I like the way it feels and smells.

Mixed media

Some miscellaneous experiments mixing brush work and digital manipulation, photography, glitch, and technology.

Liquid Crystal Virtual Environments

Liquid crystals exhibit beautiful textures that can provide a bizarre and out-of-this-world feel to 3D environments. All the textures shown in this demo are available here. Please use them in your own projects and let me know what you are doing!